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Shopify Merchants Now Have The Power Of Apple’s AR Quick Look

Sellers now have the ability to give customers an AR shopping experience through their Safari browser.

Apple is on a roll with augmented reality. The company has worked with Pixar to create a special file format called USDZ which can take AR content and bring it into the real world in a way that seems more natural and just recently during Apple’s 2018 Keynote, Apple CEO Tim Cook showed off two impressive AR-based experiences that would run on the company’s ARKit2. Recent hiring data also indicates that Apple has big plans to merge AR with Apple Maps.

On Monday, Apple released iOS 12 out into the wild and with it a slew of much desired updates that iPhone and iPad users have been waiting for. One of most exciting being a new feature called AR Quick Look – which gives you the ability to view AR objects on your device directly through Apple’s Safari browser without the need for a an extra, third-party app.

Hot on the heels of this announcement, Ottawa, Ontario based e-commerce company, Shopify announced that they would be adding full support for AR Quick Look to anyone operating on their platform, giving over 600,000 Shopify merchants in 175 countries the ability to bring AR into their personal stores.

That is a lot of AR powered commerce!

Shopify itself is a business dedicated towards providing merchants with the cutting-edge tools necessary to be a competitive force against big online retailers, such as Amazon, Alibaba, and Walmart; who, by the way, are already dabbling with AR.

Giving Shopify merchants the power to deliver an AR experience to their customers fits the company’s mission statement, which is simple and direct: ‘The first Shopify store was our own. It’s been our mission to make commerce better for everyone ever since. Make commerce better for everyone.’ to 

That’s the whole point of Apple’s AR Quick Look: leveraging the power of AR to make everything from games and social apps, to navigation and shopping a better experience.

As part of Shopify’s announcement, the company also released a promotional video that featuring the company Pure Cycles, a Shopify merchant taking full advantage of ARKit2 and AR Quick Look. In the video, Jorand Schau, co-founder of Pure Cycles states, “Your brain starts to think that you’re looking at the product,” adding, “You can see it, see it in your apt, in your living room, and it feels more real.”

By updating their merchant site to support AR Quick Look, Shopify ultimately opens the gates to a much larger online market where AR is baked right into the browser – as long as you’re using Safari – and gives the consumer a shopping experience where they can view products from their home.

Much like larger stores such as Wayfair and IKEA, you’ll be able to browse a Shopify merchant to see if a couch or table will look good in your home before you actually purchase the item. In the end, this means a better online shopping experience where consumers can feel confident about their purchases. This also takes a significant tole off of the merchant by reducing the number of returns, saving time and money for both them and the consumer.

Shopify AR powered by Apple’s AR Quick Look is available now to all Shopify merchants. Apple’s iOS 12 is available now to most Apple devices through a software update.

Image Credit: Shopify

About the Scout

Bobby Carlton

Hello, my name is Bobby Carlton. When I'm not exploring the world of immersive technology, I'm writing rock songs about lost love. I'd also like to mention that I can do 25 push-ups in a row.

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